Job 3:23

3:23 Why is light given ¹  to a man ² 

whose way is hidden, ³ 

and whom God has hedged in? ⁴ 

Job 8:19

8:19 Indeed, this is the joy of his way, ⁵ 

and out of the earth ⁶  others spring up. ⁷ 

Job 17:9

17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,

and the one with clean hands grows stronger. ⁸ 

Job 21:14

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to ⁹  know your ways. ¹⁰ 

Job 21:29

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts ¹¹  –

Job 22:28

22:28 Whatever you decide ¹²  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

Job 23:10-11

23:10 But he knows the pathway that I take; ¹³ 

if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. ¹⁴ 

23:11 My feet ¹⁵  have followed ¹⁶  his steps closely;

I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. ¹⁷ 

Job 24:4

24:4 They turn the needy from the pathway,

and the poor of the land hide themselves together. ¹⁸ 

Job 24:23

24:23 God ¹⁹  may let them rest in a feeling of security, ²⁰ 

but he is constantly watching ²¹  all their ways. ²² 

Job 28:23

28:23 God understands the way to it,

and he alone knows its place.

Job 31:4

31:4 Does he not see my ways

and count all my steps?

Job 34:21

34:21 For his eyes are on the ways of an individual,

he observes all a person’s ²³  steps.

Job 36:23

36:23 Who has prescribed his ways for him?

Or said to him, ‘You have done what is wicked’?

Job 38:25

38:25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,

and a path for the rumble of thunder,

Job 40:19

40:19 It ranks first among the works of God, ²⁴ 

the One who made it

has furnished it with a sword. ²⁵ 

[3:23]  ¹ tn This first part of the verse, “Why is light given,” is supplied from the context. In the Hebrew text the verse simply begins with “to a man….” It is also in apposition to the construction in v. 20. But after so many qualifying clauses and phrases, a restatement of the subject (light, from v. 20) is required.

[3:23]  ² sn After speaking of people in general (in the plural in vv. 21 and 22), Job returns to himself specifically (in the singular, using the same word גֶּבֶר [gever, “a man”] that he employed of himself in v. 3). He is the man whose way is hidden. The clear path of his former life has been broken off, or as the next clause says, hedged in so that he is confined to a life of suffering. The statement includes the spiritual perplexities that this involves. It is like saying that God is leading him in darkness and he can no longer see where he is going.

[3:23]  ³ tn The LXX translated “to a man whose way is hidden” with the vague paraphrase “death is rest to [such] a man.” The translators apparently combined the reference to “the grave” in the previous verse with “hidden”

[3:23]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil of סָכַךְ (sakhakh,“to hedge in”). The key parallel passage is Job 19:8, which says, “He has blocked [גָּדַר, gadar] my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths.” To be hedged in is an implied metaphor, indicating that the pathway is concealed and enclosed. There is an irony in Job’s choice of words in light of Satan’s accusation in 1:10. It is heightened further when the same verb is employed by God in 38:8 (see F. I. Andersen, Job [TOTC], 109).

[8:19]  ⁵ tn This line is difficult. If the MT stands as it is, the expression must be ironic. It would be saying that the joy (all the security and prosperity) of its way (its life) is short-lived – that is the way its joy goes. Most commentators are not satisfied with this. Dhorme, for one, changes מְשׂוֹשׂ (mÿsos, “joy”) to מְסוֹס (mÿsos, “rotting”), and gets “behold him lie rotting on the path.” The sibilants can interchange this way. But Dhorme thinks the MT was written the way it was because the word was thought to be “joy,” when it should have been the other way. The word “way” then becomes an accusative of place. The suggestion is rather compelling and would certainly fit the context. The difficulty is that a root סוּס (sus, “to rot”) has to be proposed. E. Dhorme does this by drawing on Arabic sas, “to be eaten by moths or worms,” thus “worm-eaten; decaying; rotting.” Cf. NIV “its life withers away”; also NAB “there he lies rotting beside the road.”

[8:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “dust.”

[8:19]  ⁷ sn As with the tree, so with the godless man – his place will soon be taken by another.

[17:9]  ⁹ tn The last two words are the imperfect verb יֹסִיף (yosif) which means “he adds,” and the abstract noun “energy, strength.” This noun is not found elsewhere; its Piel verb occurs in Job 4:4 and 16:5. “he increases strength.”

[21:14]  ¹³ tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”

[21:14]  ¹⁴ sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.

[21:29]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”

[22:28]  ²¹ tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[23:10]  ²⁵ tn The expression דֶּרֶךְ עִמָּדִי (derekh ’immadi) means “the way with me,” i.e., “the way that I take.” The Syriac has “my way and my standing.” Several commentators prefer “the way of my standing,” meaning where to look for me. J. Reider offers “the way of my life” (“Some notes to the text of the scriptures,” HUCA 3 [1926]: 115). Whatever the precise wording, Job knows that God can always find him.

[23:10]  ²⁶ tn There is a perfect verb followed by an imperfect in this clause with the protasis and apodosis relationship (see GKC 493 §159.b).

[23:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “my foot.”

[23:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “held fast.”

[23:11]  ³¹ tn The last clause, “and I have not turned aside,” functions adverbially in the sentence. The form אָט (’at) is a pausal form of אַתֶּה (’atteh), the Hiphil of נָטָה (natah, “stretch out”).

[24:4]  ³³ sn Because of the violence and oppression of the wicked, the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, all are deprived of their rights and forced out of the ways and into hiding just to survive.

[24:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:23]  ³⁸ tn The expression לָבֶטַח (lavetakh, “in security”) precedes the verb that it qualifies – God “allows him to take root in security.” For the meaning of the verb, see Job 8:15.

[24:23]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his eyes are on.”

[24:23]  ⁴⁰ sn The meaning of the verse is that God may allow the wicked to rest in comfort and security, but all the time he is watching them closely with the idea of bringing judgment on them.

[34:21]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[40:19]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the ways of God.”

[40:19]  ⁴⁶ tc The literal reading of the MT is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The RV probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).